Walking Home
by raine4bw
Summary: Just a normal night like no other. B/W


Disclaimer: I own nothing!  
Pairing: B/W  
Spoilers: maybe Season 1  
AN: Short, simple, I'm fighting my way through writer's block on other stories.

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Walking Home

"You're going to be late" Willow frowned apologetically at her companion. It was late, really too late for smart residents to be out and about on Sunnydale streets. And Buffy had curfew. A curfew that was about 10 minutes ago.

"It's totally fine" Buffy reassured her, wrapping her arm around the smaller girl's shoulders, "Mom's been really busy with the gallery lately so she's probably already asleep by now."

"Oh...well alright." Willow felt a little less guilty. Vamp activity had been relatively small lately so after Buffy was done slaying, the two of them, since Xander had fallen asleep watching a horror movie marathon, had gone to see a late movie. Afterward Willow had immediately started listing all the things she liked, what she didn't like, the accuracy, and non accuracy of the the movie's vaguely historical bits, and so on. Buffy had been amused, but neither girl had noticed the time go by during Willow's babble, which lead them to the current predicament.

They neared the Summers house, the moonlight just barely illuminating the front porch and Buffy glanced at her window. She'd considered once just leaping to her window to get inside her room and avoid any possible door-opening detection by her mom but decided on the off chance her mother was in the wrong place at the wrong time it would be best to avoid major feats of Slayer-agility.

"So..." Buffy drawled, "here we are." She stopped to gaze at the moon for a bit, not at all worried about her lateness, she was confident that her mother was sound asleep. Buffy turned to the porch at the sound of a small animal.

"Buffy, look, isn't it cute?" Willow was sitting on the porch step, a small gray kitten at her feet, having apparently escaped from a nearby house. Its silver name tag glittered.

"Grey" Buffy snorted, as the redhead made a sympathetic sound at the kitten who was now playing with her pants leg. Sunnydale residents weren't known for their intelligence when it came to naming their pets. There was a small dog down the street which was subjected to the name 'Rat' because one of the two owners didn't like it. Buffy leaned against the railing and watched her friend for a few moments, and when Willow looked up she saw a very peculiar expression on Buffy's face.

"Buffy?" leaving the cat to paw at the air, Willow stood up and stepped closer to the unusually quiet blonde, "you okay?"

"Yeah, I" Buffy cleared her throat self consciously, "yeah Will I'm fine."

"Oh...okay" Willow rocked back and forth on her heels and shivered suddenly. The cool wind blew against the unaffected Slayer and Buffy impulsively gave her friend a hug, wrapping her arms around her. Willow, having realized her friend seemed to be a mystical heat source, hugged her back, hard, gaining some warmth for herself.

Buffy inhaled sharply when Willow's arms then relaxed and simply rested at her side. Standing a step above Willow put Buffy in an uncommon position. At this height Willow's head rested just under Buffy's chin and her young friend's shampoo filled Buffy's slayer-enhanced senses, and Buffy's inner id slowly developed very bad urge.

"You're warm" Willow said softly, releasing the Slayer and stepping back. She pouted slightly and then smiled, "that's just not fair"

Buffy was quiet again, merely watching as Willow's breathing created small wisps of fog, and Buffy started to reach a hand toward her friend.

Just then the forgotten kitten decided it was tired of being ignored and 'mew'ed softly, startling Willow. The young hacker turned to look at the tiny feline. Buffy's hand, still outstretched and formerly at shoulder level, was now very close to Willow's face.

Slayer-sight tracked the widening of Willow's eyes as Buffy gently put her hand on the side of the redhead's face and tilted her head up in Buffy's direction. The moon disappeared behind a cloud and the Slayer stopped thinking about what she was doing.

Leaning forward, she softly pressed her lips against her friend's. Once, twice, and at the same instant Willow made a small sound, very similar to the kitten's, Buffy realized acutely that they were still standing in front of her house, and she leaned back. Air rushed in and out of her lungs rapidly, as she tried not to hyperventilate.

"Um..." Buffy felt her cheeks grow warm, and fearfully watched as Willow rocked back and forth and stepped back a little. Willow blinked rapidly several times and the Slayer watched her eyes as they unfocused, then focused, and finally looked at her with an expression Buffy couldn't quite read.

"I...um" Buffy ran a hand through her hair._What just happened? I shouldn't have done that I- _"I'm sorry!" she blurted, crossing her arms and putting a hand to her head. _Stupid, stupid!_, "I shouldn't have...that was my fault I..." Unsure of what to say Buffy grimaced and glanced sideways at Willow. Buffy's heart was beating rapidly and her blood pounded in her ears.

Still Willow's expression hadn't changed but her face was becoming red with what Buffy hoped wasn't anger. Buffy watched as Willow raised a hand to her face and then paused, her expression becoming one of puzzlement. Willow was starting to think.

And as Willow's mouth opened and started to form a word, Buffy became terrified. She had just done something unforgiveable and now Willow was going to end their friendship...or worse. She couldn't handle that. Buffy leapt the remaining distance to the door and pushed it halfway open.

"Sorry, I just really-, I gotta-, Please don't-, I'm sorry!" Buffy And the mighty Slayer, killer of vampires and demons, fled into her own house.

She bolted up the stairs so fast she didn't even notice her mother standing in the living room, with a book in her hand. Joyce's eyes tracked her daughter's flight, then looked back out the window where she could just see the edge of someone's shadow. She wasn't spying on her only daughter of course, but she had been caught up in a book Mr. Giles had lent her, and Joyce had been sitting on the sofa, waiting patiently for her late daughter to arrive home since about 8 'o clock.

As Joyce watched, the shadow outside rocked back and forth, then jerked, as if waking up, and started walking slowly away from the house. Joyce put her book down and approached the front door. She turned toward the steps and placed her hand on the banister, uncertain of what to do. She wasn't sure if her daughter would talk to her right now. Sighing, Buffy's mother closed the door and returned to the sofa, resolving to talk to her daughter in the morning.

Once in her room, Buffy left the lights off and stumbled, sitting down hard on the floor. Grabbing and hugging her stuffed pig close to her chest, she sat huddled in the dark corner. As tears of frustration and self-anger filled her eyes, Buffy's vision blurred and she leaned her head against the wall. The Slayer closed her eyes and sat motionless, until morning.

END


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